The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was requested on Thursday to probe a video posted by the official social media account of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.
Aneesur Rehman, a technical assistant at the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad, on Thursday, wrote to the centre's deputy director and drew his attention to a video posted by Imran Khan's official 'X' (formerly known as Twitter) account on May 26.
Rehman claimed that he found Imran Khan's account "sharing anti-state activities and promoting anti-state narratives on social media/Twitter."
The anti-state activities and narratives referred to a three-minute video posted from Imran's account, which sought to compare Awami League chief and eventual founder of Bangladesh Shiekh Mujeebur Rehman with former dictator General Yahya Khan and posed the question: "Who was the real traitor?"
The video stated that Mujeebur Rehman had won the 1970 elections by a majority, but Yahya wanted to prevent Mujeeb from taking over and had him tried and convicted in a military court even though he was a civilian.
Claiming that the alleged account is being used by Imran Khan, Rehman's letter said that the alleged Twitter handle had built a false narrative and spread misinformation against state institutions of Pakistan including Pakistan Army, through his Twitter account, with 20.6 million followers.
Rehman claimed the video was clearly "misleading, intimidating and amounts to inciting an officer/soldier of the armed forces of Pakistan to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty and may induce/ incite any officer/soldier to commit an offence against the state institutions or senior officers of Pakistan Army, which is a mischievous act of subversion within the various ranks of armed forces of Pakistan and to create a rift/hatred among the pillars of the state, which clearly falls under PECA, 2016."
The official further claimed that some 4.2 million users had viewed the video while over 56,000 liked it, and 38,000 users shared the alleged video.
"The subject matter needs further probe and investigation, therefore, it is recommended that necessary legal action may kindly be initiated against the user of Twitter handle "@ImranKhanPTI" involved in the anti-state campaign on social media," the letter read.
It is pertinent to note here that Imran Khan has been continuously in jail for one case or another since August 2023, and he does not have access to devices through which he can connect to the internet or access 'X'.
Moreover, since the February 8, 2024, general elections, the social media platform 'X' has been inaccessible due to an unannounced and unofficial ban imposed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).